A domain name is an address with which one accesses a particular website. In the early days of the internet, computers used to be connected via WANs (wide area networks) with no source of identification.

Hence, the US Defense Information Systems Agency came up with the system of Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) in 1972 to assign a particular number to each computer so that it can be identified easily. This led to the creation of IP (Internet Protocol) addresses, which were launched in 1973. Since then, IP addresses became the customary system to trace all computers in the system of networked computers.

Development of a Name Server

However, with the growing field of networking and a great number of users interacting with each other through computer networks, it became difficult to use IP addresses for identification. The extensive length and the varying numbers proved to be confusing and difficult to memorize and record. Hence, in 1984, the technicians along with the researchers at the University of Wisconsin came up with a new and unique ‘name server.’

The structure of domain name was created and executed in 1985. The most famous domain names that are still used to this day, such as .com, .org and .net, were made known to the public.

An estimate of nineteen million domain names have been registered till now. With an alarmingly growing rate of the internet, it is reported by recent surveys that up to forty thousand domains are registered every single day.

Domain Name Registration Trends Today

Since then, the historical domain name registration trends have changed quite a lot. Most domain names were instantly purchased in the beginning by investors such as Kevin Hamm and companies such as Amazon, Salesforce, Hearst and AOL which have acquired a variety of domain names over the years that are worth up to tens of millions of dollars that are still not in use today.

According to a recent report, a web hosting service, GoDaddy, acquired portfolios of premium domain names from private investors and paid out a large amount of more than a hundred million dollars.

Initially, domain names were only purchased by private investors, but now big corporations such as Amazon, Google, and WordPress are also investing large sums of money to obtain domain name extensions. Popular brands are now coming up with their own domain extensions such as BMW came up with ‘. bmw’, while Barclays has ‘.barclays’ and McDonald’s owns the ‘.mcd’ and ‘.mcdonalds’ domain extensions.

Conclusion

Current surveys conducted also show that Chinese registrants took up the opportunity and invested at the right time and own about fifty-four percent of the total domain names along with the internet’s favorite two- and three-letter .com domain names.

All in all, according to the recent statistics, the market for domain names is rapidly on the rise, with companies spending more $100,000 for a first-class domain name.

Connect

Did You Know?

Did you know that the U.S. Department of Education recently released findings that show Cal Maritime graduates have the highest average earnings of any California university ten years after enrollment and they have the seventh highest in the U.S.?

Did you know that the U.S. Department of Education recently released findings that show Cal Maritime graduates have the highest average earnings of any California university ten years after enrollment and they have the seventh highest in the U.S.?